DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 2, filed 07/17/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 102(a)(2) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Hoshino et al. (WO 2013/015355).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-9, 17 and 18, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tada et al. (U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0219756) in view of Hoshino et al. (WO 2013/015355).
Regarding claim 1, Tada et al. teaches brazing a metal part made of a metal and ceramic part made of a ceramic which meets a broad and reasonable interpretation of a method for producing a metal-ceramic substrate (paragraph 21). Tada et al. teaches a ceramic part which meets the limitation a ceramic body (paragraph 21). Tada et al. teaches method of brazing by producing a thin sheet or foil of an active silver braze containing about 2% by weight of an active metal such as titanium and zirconium, sandwiching the sheet or foil between the ceramic and the metal which meets the limitation a metal foil and a solder material in contact with the ceramic body and the metal foil, (paragraph 11). Tada et al. teaches copper but does not specify the melting temperature of copper. It is the position of the Office the metal copper would meet the limitation of “a metal having a melting point of at least 700°C” because dependent claim 4 defines “the metal having a melting point of at least 700°C is copper”. Tada et al. teaches tin and indium but does not specify the melting temperature of tin or indium (paragraph 47). It is the position of the Office the metals tin or indium would meet the limitation of “a metal having a melting point of less than 700°C” because dependent claim 5 defines “the metal having a melting point of less than 700°C is selected from the group consisting of tin, bismuth, indium, gallium, zinc, antimony and magnesium”. Tada et al. teaches an active metal is titanium (paragraph 28). Tada et al. teaches heating in a furnace which meets a broad and reasonable interpretation of heating the stack, the stack passing through a heating zone for heating (paragraph 41). Tada does not teach wherein the heating zone has an inlet and an outlet, wherein, when the stack passes through the heating zone, the stack enters the heating zone through the inlet and exits the heating zone through the outlet, and wherein the inlet is different from the outlet.
Hoshino et al. teaches bonding method of an oxide-based ceramic circuit board in which a ceramic substrate and a copper plate are integrally bonded wherein the heating step is a step of placing an oxide-based ceramic substrate on which a copper plate is placed on a tray and feeding a belt having a conveying speed (belt speed) of 70 to 270 mm which meets the limitation of wherein the heating zone has an inlet and an outlet, wherein, when the stack passes through the heating zone, the stack enters the heating zone through the inlet and exits the heating zone through the outlet, and wherein the inlet is different from the outlet (page 5). Hoshino et al. teaches a ceramic body and copper foil (page 9). Hoshino et al. teaches adjusting belt speed to decrease dendrite formation (page 5). Hoshino et al. teaches the heating temperature is raised, lowered, and raised to continuously perform each heating process to prevent the formation of dendritic crystals (page 5). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the belt furnace taught by Hoshino et al. for heating the stack taught by Tada because the belt furnace regulates the heat to decrease formation of dendritic crystals.
Regarding claim 2, Tada et al. teaches aluminum nitride or silicon nitride which meets the limitation of wherein the ceramic of the ceramic body is selected from the group consisting of aluminum nitride ceramics, silicon nitride ceramics and aluminum oxide ceramics (paragraph 40).
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Tada et al. teaches a foil-form brazing material wherein the brazing material comprises a thin sheet or foil of a copper (abstract; paragraph 26).
Regarding claim 5, Tada et al. teaches tin or indium (paragraph 32)
Regarding claim 6, Tada et al. teaches active metal of the present invention may be, for example, titanium, zirconium, or hafnium and the compound of the active metal (paragraph 37).
Regarding claim 7, Tada et al. teaches the powder, the thin sheet or the foil of the copper braze to be used may be commonly used copper braze and copper braze with a lowered melting point by adding tin which implies no silver (paragraph 33).
Regarding claims 8, 9, and 17, Hoshino et al. teaches heating step is performed in a nitrogen gas atmosphere purity of the nitrogen gas is 99.99% or more which meets the limitation of wherein the non-oxidizing atmosphere contains less than 40 ppm of a reactive gas (page 6). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the belt furnace with the nitrogen gas atmosphere taught by Hoshino et al. for heating the stack taught by Tada because the belt furnace regulates the heat to decrease formation of dendritic crystals.
Regarding claim 18, , Hoshino et al. teaches pure copper (page 11). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use pure copper for the stack taught by Tada to decrease formation of dendritic crystals.
Claim(s) 10, 11, 13-16, 19, 20, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tada et al. in view of Hoshino et al. as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Su et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,026).
Tada et al. in view of Hoshino et al. teaches active binder for brazing which is for use in brazing metals to ceramics comprising a belt furnace with a nitrogen atmosphere but does not teach peak temperature heating duration.
Su et al. teaches improved eutectic oxide bonding method is applied for bonding a metallic copper foil to a nonmetallic substrate by forming a liquid phase derived from a eutectic oxide composition (abstract). Su et al. teaches arrangement is heated in a commercial ultra-high purity grade nitrogen atmosphere initially at a temperature of about 1060 ̊C for about 30 minutes, during which the foil softens and deforms into intimate contact with the still-solid cuprous oxide deposit (column 3). Su et al. teaches the temperature is raised to about 1070 ̊C for about 30 minutes (column 3). Su et al. teaches at the higher temperature, a liquid form at the interface between the foil and the oxide deposit and continues to grow, consuming the oxide deposit, until reaching and wetting the substrate surface (column 3). Su et al. teaches the assembly is cooled, following which the foil is tightly bonded to substrate (column 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use an inert atmosphere for heating the metal ceramic stack taught by Tada et al. to a temperature and time sufficient to produce a tight bond.
Regarding claims 13 and 14, Su et al. teaches the copper layer is heated at a temperature between 800 to 1065 ̊C which meets the limitation wherein the peak temperature is from 800 °C to 1000 °C (column 1; lines 65-68).
Regarding claims 15-19, Hoshino et al. teaches the heating temperature is raised, lowered, and raised to continuously perform each heating process to prevent the formation of dendritic crystals (page 5).
Su et al. teaches the copper layer is heated at a temperature between 800 to 1065 ̊C which meets the limitation wherein the peak temperature is from 800 °C to 1000 °C (column 1; lines 65-68). Su et al. teaches substrate is heated for between 5 and 10 minutes to substantially react the metal to form the desired cuprous oxide (column 3, lines 10-20). Su et al. teaches the eutectic oxide bonding method of this invention is utilized to bond a metallic copper foil to a ceramic substrate and includes preforming a cuprous oxide film on the substrate prior to applying the metallic copper foil (column 1; lines 55-68). One of ordinary skill in the art could determine through routine experimentation the heating-up duration and a ratio of the peak-temperature heating duration time period and the heating-up duration time duration is in a range of 1:2 to 1:15. “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Conclusion
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/GUINEVER S GREGORIO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1732 08/06/2026
